26_metodicheskii_k

"South Africa was listed as a medium-risk country," says a senior officer of the Felixstowe container team. "But we have had one seizure of cannabis, one of half a million cigarettes, and having considered South Africa, we wrote up the project saying what we had done, and then recommended it to be seen as a high-risk area".

Preventive officers are also encouraged to use their own initiative when it comes to establishing targets. Any information which can throw more light on the company or individual responsible for an incoming container is useful.

The container team also works in close co-operation with other teams in Felixstowe and the National Investigation Service to target suspect containers. Once a target has been established a team will either go out to examine the container or have it brought into their own shed.

Health and safety is an important part of an examination – a container could be unstable, or could contain infested products or hazardous substances

– so teams adhere to stringent checks before undertaking the examination. Teams have the use of sniffer dogs at Felixstowe as well as mobile X-ray

vans.

Felixstowe is the largest user of X-ray in the country. They use four vans and they are used virtually non-stop.

Containers are also subjected to physical examination by team members. (based on "Portcullis", HM Customs & Excise, Nov., 1996)

Vocabulary Notes

quay – пристань, причал accommodate – размещать vessel – судно, корабль simultaneously – одновременно

revenue work – зд. работа таможни по сбору пошлин vital clue – главная улика

prior to – прежде, раньше verify – проверять определять

cannabis – сушеные цветки и экстракт из семян конопли establish targets – зд. устанавливать объект досмотра shed – ангар, депо

adhere to – соблюдать, держаться stringent – строгий

be subjected to – быть чем-либо, служить чем-либо, подвергаться

Упражнение 1. Переведите на русский язык.

To assess risks, undertaking credibility checks, shipping entries the origin and the destination of the goods, legitimate; smuggler, infested products,

41

hazardous substances, have the use of drugs dogs, seizure of cannabis, to avoid Customs checks, risk testing, can accommodate many vessels simultaneously.

Упражнение 2. Найдите в тексте английские эквиваленты следующих слов и словосочетаний.

Грузовой манифест, определять риск, грузовые/отгрузочные документы, судоходная компания, определять подозрительный контейнер, происхождение и место назначения груза, таможенный досмотрщик, проверка на степень риска, определять (контейнеры) для проверки, законный, бригада по досмотру контейнеров, захват, конфискация, (инвазированные) зараженные паразитами продукты, опасные вещества, быть подверженным досмотру.

Упражнение 3. Прочтите следующие слова, определите, к какой части речи они относятся и почему. Переведите слова.

Know, knowledge, known, unknown, suspect, suspicion, suspicious, credibility, credible, credit, creditable, credited, creditor; supply, supplies, supplier; accommodate, accommodating, accommodation.

Найдите все возможные синонимы к слову investigation в различных словарях.

Упражнение 4. Найдите в тексте слова и словосочетания, соответствующие следующим определениям.

1.operating at the same time

2.to estimate, to decide

3.list of cargo or passengers carried by a ship

4.place to which a person or thing is going

5.fact or idea giving a guide to the solution

6.in accordance with a law

7.contaminated (products)

7.dangerous, being a source of danger

Упражнение 5. Замените подчеркнутые слова и словосочетания выражениями из текста.

1.Team members determine which containers to mark to choose for later examination.

2.Contact is also made with police officers who build up local knowledge of the business in their region.

3.Preventive officers are also urged to use their own initiative when it comes to establishing targets.

4.The container team also works together with other teams in Felixstowe.

42

5.The team can either go out to examine the container or have it brought into their own building for storage.

6.A container could be unstable, or could contain dangerous substances.

7.So teams stick to stringent checks before undertaking the examination.

8.Trinity terminal is the most progressive container terminal in the country.

9.The terminal manages just under two million containers a year.

10.With structured risk testing, containers are described (recognised) as high-risk, medium-risk and low-risk.

Упражнение 6. Верны ли следующие утверждения.

1.Further checks can be made on the suppliers or companies receiving the goods.

2.South Africa is listed as a medium-risk country.

3.The container team goes out to examine containers.

4.Teams have the use of drugs dogs and X-ray vans.

5.Four X-ray vans can not be simultaneously used non-stop.

6.Team members adhere to stringent checks before undertaking the examination.

Упражнение 7. Найдите в тексте ответы на следующие вопросы.

1.How does the port of Felixstowe rank in the UK?

2.What way of working with containers has been introduced in Felixstowe?

3.Is it successful?

4.What kind of information does the shipping manifest contain?

5.What do the stages of work with containers include?

6.Can preventive officers establish targets themselves?

7.Does the container team work in close cooperation with teams in Felixstowe and the National Investigation Service?

8.Is health and safety ensuring an important part of the team work?

9.What facilities does the team use in its work?

Упражнение 8. Докажите, что …

1.The port of Felixstowe is the most advanced container terminal in the country.

2.The system introduced in Felixstowe is very effective.

3.Shipping manifests contain very important information.

4.Risk analysis is no simple matter.

5.Any information about the company or individual responsible for an incoming container is useful in Customs procedure.

43

Упражнение 9. Прочтите Text 2. Верны ли следующие утверждения.

1.The history of official trade statistics in Great Britain can be traced back as far as the 17 century.

2.The UK's entry into the European Union and the introduction of the European Single Market caused various changes in the UK Trade Statistics.

3.Today UK trade statistics are claimed to be the best in the EC.

Упражнение 10. Найдите, с какой информацией связаны эти цифры.

300; 13; 500; 1966; 500; 24; 1696; 1774; 1871; 1920; 1989; 2007.

Text 2

Trade Statistics in Great Britain

1996 saw the 300th anniversary of official trade statistics in Great Britain.

The history of overseas trade information can be traced back to medieval times, when Customs records were used to provide estimates of imports and exports of cloth and wool, which accounted for the majority of English trade in the 13th century. But it was not until 1696 that the Government created the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations to look into English trade. They were asked to supply an annual report of imports and exports, but the amount of work involved necessitated the appointment of a specialist officer and clerks.

The first inspector general, William Gulliford, was appointed in September 1696 and he was paid the then princely sum of Ј500 per year.

Details of imports and exports were initially recorded in yearly ledgers, replaced in 1774 by a new kind of statistical table.

The present form of monthly and annual accounts dates back to 1871, when the statistical office was formed following a Treasury inquiry into the statistical branches of Customs “to ascertain whether the required information could not be obtained more accurately and less expensively”.

The statistical office was formed from the merger of the office of the Inspector General, the examiner's office and the bill of entry. The bill of entry was originally a private concern and sold trade statistics data.

It came under control in 1881. This patent may have been a reward for loyal service to the Crown, as it gave a named individual exclusive right of access to all official documents relating to Customs reports.

In the 18th century, substantial errors in trade information were detected as a result of traders' deliberately entering inflated figures in order to deceive their competitors. The Inspector General tried to get the practice stopped but was unsuccessful in the face of opposition from merchants.

44

In 1920, the statistical office dragged itself into the merchandised age with the introduction of a punch-card accounting system (which at that time was the largest in use anywhere in the department).

1966 saw the introduction of a new computer for which a special annex had to be prepared. The computer was huge, with punch-card, papertype reading and time-sharing capacity and 800 line-a-minute printers. For the very first time, data was held on magnetic tape.

Since then there have been numerous developments, both technological and economic, affecting the statistical office, not least the UK's entry into the European Union and the introduction of the European Single Market.

Although no Customs barriers to trade exist within the EU, there is still a need for comprehensive statistical information, now provided under the Intrastal system.

Technological changes include the facility for electronic transfer of information to reduce the amount of paper entries requiring sorting, microfilming and keying, and the proposed introduction of optical character readers so that information can be scanned onto the system rather than being keyed in.

In 1989, responsibility for the production and distribution of the tariff was given to the statistical office which then became the Tariff and Statistical Office (T & SO). The tariff itself celebrates its 500th anniversary in 2007.

Now 500 members of staff process over 24 million trade items a year. Today UK trade statistics are claimed to be the best in the EC, and among the best in the world.

The statistical office can look forward to meeting the increased need for trade statistics in the new millennium, and achieving its mission to provide the right statistics to the right people at the right time.

Упражнение 11. Выберите из текста ключевые слова и словосочетания, описывающие историю и основные этапы развития торговой статистики в Великобритании.

Упражнение 12. Ответьте на вопросы.

1.What developments have there been recently in the UK and Europe?

2.What information is provided under the INTRASTAT system?

3.What are the advantages of the facility for economic transfer of information?

4.What office is now in charge of the production and distribution of the tariff?

5.What mission can the statistical office of the UK look forward to achieving?

45

Упражнение 13. Расскажите о современном состоянии торговой статистики в Великобритании.

Упражнение 14. Прочтите фрагмент Таможенного Кодекса РФ и ответьте на вопросы.

Text 3

The RF Customs Code

The RF Customs Code determines the following types of violations of customs regulations (VCR).

1.Unauthentic declaration.

2.Commodities import under forged documents.

3.Pseudo-re-export.

4.Undercharged customs value.

5.Failure to receive currency earnings.

6.Capital export.

1. Unauthentic declaration.

Unauthentic declaration of goods and vehicles happens when goods declared under the wrong code or wrong commodity name or are not declared at all. Such infringement is aimed at reducing customs payments.

When importing foreign goods subject to a high level of taxation to RF territory various tricks are used. For instance, some categories of goods are declared as their parts because the rates of import customs tariffs for ready made goods are higher than for parts. Sometimes knocked down goods are loaded in a vehicle so that a Customs inspector couldn’t indicate the state of goods. Quite frequent are cases when goods are declared under the wrong name or when goods with similar functions and a similar classification code though different rates of taxation are chosen. Declaration under the wrong code happens when transporting goods with complex chemical contents. In fact one type of commodity is changed for another (different wood species, different metals, and chemicals).

Various attempts to avoid customs duties payment can have a negative effect on the country’s economy. A series of measures have been developed by the Russian customs bodies in order to uncover such infringements. These measures include checking the authenticity of documents, inspecting goods and vehicles conveying the documents and testing the chemical content of goods.

2. Commodities imported under forged documents.

This method is used mainly when importing goods and vehicles to the RF Customs territory. The essence of this method is as follows: a set of commodities is conveyed across RF frontier under one set of documents, while on coming through the Customs post this set of documents is replaced by forged one. The set of forged documents includes additional copies of cargo, shipping and financial documents. Lots of goods can be directed to the RF customs clearance to import maximum amount of goods in the shortest period of time.

46

Now the RF CC has formed communication network in order to make information exchange between frontier Customs posts and internal Custom houses more effective. An internal custom house checks quantity, price and classification characteristics of each set of commodities subject to customs clearance procedure making it possible to control imported commodities information authenticity.

Customs duties payment refusal can be qualified as serious Customs violation, i.e. smuggling.

3. Pseudo-re-export.

Re-export is a customs regime when commodities are imported to the RF Customs territory in order to be exported from it within 6 months of the date of a cargo declaration acceptance. In this case, commodity import is accomplished freely or with subsequent customs duties payment return. It is also exempt of any economic policy measures.

When the Customs regime of re-export is used illegally foreign goods are imported free, then they are realized on the RF Customs territory and customs documents are signed up without actual frontier crossing. For instance, it was very popular to use re-export of furniture, including office furniture, in order to use it on the Russian territory thus avoiding customs duties payment.

Customs bodies pay great attention to customs payments implementation. For instance, all customs duties paid when importing of a certain category commodities should be transferred to a deposit account of Customs bodies. The whole sum of payment is kept in this account until the commodities are exported from then RF territory, which is certified by delivery control document (DCD) issued by the frontier custom house. This must be proved by certain shipping documents as well.

4. Undercharged customs value.

Customs value undercharging is most widely used by importers and sometimes by exporters for a considerable reduction in customs payments. For instance, imported black tea passes through the Customs Clearance and Customs Control at the invoice price of 32 000 USD for 20 tonnes. The amount of customs payments is equal to 8320 USD. If the price of goods is changed to 10 000 USD the customs payments will be reduced to 2600 USD correspondingly.

It must be noted that undercharging has two purposes: on the one hand the importation of goods with undercharged price reduces the sum of customs payments, on the other hand it makes possible to import more goods and sell them at the real prices of the domestic market.

In order to prevent this type of violation, customs officers effecting customs control of certain categories of foreign goods should be guided by the prices issued in a special normative document.

5. Failure to receive currency earnings.

This type of infringement takes place when export currency operations are not competed, i.e. the planned export supplies under overseas trade contract are

47

stopped. Most of these infringements are aimed at concealing currency proceeds from goods export. The maximum term of payment for supplied goods can be envisaged by the export trade contract terms of payment. After that contract supplies are stopped and currency proceedings are not transferred to the exporter currency account of in an authorized bank.

Now RF SCC and the RF take control over currency proceeds received under foreign trade contracts.

6. Capital export.

When capital is exported under a foreign-trade contract different methods are used to transfer large sums abroad, for example unjustified transfer of advance payments under the contract, customs value undercharging, etc.

When customs value is undercharged, commodities are purchased at overcharged prices without an intention to sell or use them. That allows money to be transferred legally when paying for the commodities under a certain contract.

The RF President has signed an order according to which importersresidents are responsible for illegal capital export in the form of penalties.

The penalty sum is equal to the sum of foreign currency having been transferred before as payment for non-existing or incomplete commodities supply.

(Adapted from http// www.vch.ru )

Vocabulary Notes

infringement – нарушение, в т.ч. нормативных актов; контрафакция commodity – товар

rundown – сокращение количества; занижение (цены)

Упражнения 15. Ответьте на следующие вопросы.

1.What types of violations are determined by the Russian Customs Code? 2.What is unauthentic declaration?

3.What are the types of unauthentic declaration?

4.What measures have been taken by the Russian Custom bodies in order to reveal such a violation?

5.What way can commodities be illegally imported? 6.What is the purpose of illegal import?

7.What activities have the Russian Custom bodies implemented to prevent this type of crime?

8.What is re-export? 9.What is pseudo re-export?

10.Can you name some counter-measures taken? 11.What is the purpose of Customs value undercharging? 12.Can you give any examples of it?

13.What is a protection measure aimed against this type of violation?

48

14.What is the failure to receive currency earnings method? 15.What is the aim of this method?

16.What has been done in order take control over currency proceeds? 17.Can you name some ways of illegal capital transfer?

18.How much is the penalty sum in case of proved illegal capital transfer?

Упражнение 16. В мае 2004 года страны Евросоюза, включая и вновь принятые, приняли новую систему учета данных торговой статистики. Одним из нововведений явилось использование системы Intrastat.

Прочтите информацию и расскажите по-русски о том, что такое Intrastat; какого рода информацию он содержит; каковы требования к его составлению; чем отличаются Intrastat и Sales List.

The introduction of Intrastat, the new statistics reporting requirement for intra-EU trade, is in itself a huge challenge for businesses.

The Intrastat declaration provides the statistical authorities in the EU countries with data that was previously gathered at ports and airports from import and export declarations. The responsibility for gathering these statistics for intra EU movement of goods reverted, in 1 May 2004, to the taxpayers of each country.

Intrastat reporting demands:

–The preparation of monthly declarations on the movement of goods between member states.

–Declarations based on master data that may not currently be held and may be difficult to obtain.

–A high degree of accuracy, with penalties being levied for inaccurate or incomplete declarations.

–Flexibility, as the format of the Intrastat declarations and reports will differ in each of the candidate countries.

If implemented correctly, Intrastat should be a standard monthly

reporting exercise. Intrastat declarations must capture and report:

–The movement of goods to another EU member state by way of sale;

–The movement of your own goods to other member states by way of stock movements;

–Purchases of goods from suppliers in other member states.

Intrastat declarations do not report supplies of services between member states.

Whereas Intrastat declarations will report the volume and type of good moved between member states the EC Sales Lists will report the sales values for sales of goods to customers in other EU member states. These declarations, required to be submitted quarterly, must report the value of sales and the VAT number of the customer in the other member state.

49

Unit 6. THE ROLE OF CUSTOMS

Text 1

The Problems Facing Customs Administrations Today

We live in a rapidly changing world. Things which we regard as commonplace today, world-wide telecommunications via satellite, space travel, the micro-processor, were scarcely conceivable just a few decades ago. In recent times the world has also changed from the Customs' perspective. The traditional Customs responsibilities of collecting duties and taxes and preventing smuggling still remain with us but Customs cannot afford to ignore the changing world conditions which have a major impact on their work.

Some Customs authorities are responsible for such diverse tasks as immigration control and the enforcement of commercial policy through the implementation of referential trade agreements, the operation of quotas and the application of restrictions, the application of public health and safety legislation, quarantine controls, currency controls, counterfeiting and piracy legislation and the collection of external trade statistics. These are just a few of the non-traditional areas in which Customs are now becoming increasingly involved. Trade demands additional services such as deferred payment of duty have also had their effect on Customs.

The application of all these added responsibilities has inevitably led to an increase in the complexity of Customs regulations. Tariff books and procedure manuals are becoming significantly more detailed. Officials, who in the past applied a fairly simple tariff schedule specifying Customs duties on a limited range of goods, are now faced with the increased complexities of tariffs based on the Harmonized System. It is becoming increasingly difficult in some countries for Customs officers to be aware of all existing regulations affecting importation. This has led to a lack of uniformity in the application of the law. It provides increased opportunities for the circumvention of Customs law and produces an ideal environment for the spread of practices such as irregular payments. Customs can expect an increased workload from increasing international trade and traffic. The problems of smuggling, particularly narcotics, will continue to rise in many parts of the world. Fraud and evasion of duties will become even more acute problems in developing countries while there will be an increased pressure for greater facilitation and for controls to be equally enforced.

Customs Services will, therefore, be expected to meet the increased workload and the increased enforcement problem by better organization, modernization and improved techniques including computerization and new technology.

Every trade transaction involves at least two Customs interventions – one at exportation and the other at importation. Accordingly, Customs Services

50